Geek Confessions & Blasphemies

Chumpy_McChump wrote:
CaptainCrowbar wrote:

In the DVD commentary on (some edition or other of) Return of the Jedi, George Lucas says that he regrets killing off Boba Fett so lightly, because he hadn't realised what an iconic character he would become.

This is particularly ironic in light of his treatment of Darth Maul, a character that by all appearances was created to be iconic.

But think of all of the toys!

Not a blasphemy, but a confession that I just don't know where to put it.

I've been watching this season of King of the Nerds. I've enjoyed it even though it is a reality show, which I typically can't stand. However, I like the people on there. Even the ones I don't like seem like they are likeable, if that makes sense.

Season 1 has ended, and during the credits they mentioned Season 2 has been announced and they're accepting audition "tapes" for it.

I think I want to send an audition tape in.

I have no interest in the money. It just seems like a lot of fun. But there's a few things that makes me uncertain. While I have a lot of vidija game knowledge, I'm basically a Jack of All Trades Master of None. I'm not very competitive. As stated, I just want to go in and have fun. I'm always down on myself. While these sorts of issues actually came up in the show itself, and in fact I actually had more game history knowledge than the gamers in the final stretch of the competition, there's still one more issue that comes to mind.

My job.

I don't know how long these competitions are expected to be, and I don't know what would happen to my job if I actually got accepted. I suppose that could be a "cross that bridge when we come to it" thing, but it all stacks on and has me wondering "should I seriously consider this?"

What have I got to lose? That's usually what I think to myself, but if I'm sent to this event that takes, say, two weeks and I don't win and then it turns out I've lost my job (and as I'm currently a contractor out two weeks pay), then...what? What do I have left? A fun experience I suppose.

Argh! Why'd they have to make a reality show about nerds that wasn't just poking fun at them (even though I'm suspicious that might have been a factor in places).

So the more I listen to the Starcraft HOTS hoopla, the more I realize that I'm completely over Blizzard. I respect their level of quality and polish, but unless they come out with a new franchise with original gameplay, I just don't care anymore.

And here's where I verge into heresy territory - I'm starting to think more and more that Blizzard games are something you love in your teens and twenties, and gradually get over as you get older. Sort of like obsessions about bad action movies, cheap Honda Civics with tricked out engines, or gangsta rap.

But isn't that normal? I mean, very few things manage to grow alongside you. In fact, the things that do grow usually grow apart from you. It's weird to me to think of some piece of entertainment I enjoy and imagine it having the same relevance to me 10 years from now. Even if it's modernized. The core concepts at a certain point just stop being relevant, because I've learned new things, how to appreciate different things.

Although I think I'll always have a soft spot for Tool. But even Maynard and the rest of the guys seem to have outgrown the band and can't make it relevant anymore. 10.000 Days, while awesome, wasn't as special as AEnima or Lateralus.

jdzappa wrote:

So the more I listen to the Starcraft HOTS hoopla, the more I realize that I'm completely over Blizzard. I respect their level of quality and polish, but unless they come out with a new franchise with original gameplay, I just don't care anymore.

What hoopla is this? I'm actually in a similar position with Blizzard that you are but I didn't know there was much hoopla about. What's the issue people have?

So I've been organizing a database on my new smartphone of all my games. I'm not nearly finished, but I have currently listed 362 games (more really, since a few of the listings are actually collections of multiple games). Holy crap. And I haven't even begun to list my PC/Digital games yet. O_O

dhelor wrote:

So I've been organizing a database on my new smartphone of all my games. I'm not nearly finished, but I have currently listed 362 games (more really, since a few of the listings are actually collections of multiple games). Holy crap. And I haven't even begun to list my PC/Digital games yet. O_O

Hrm, I never thought to count mine. Let's see... I have 89 distinct games on my Steam account (excluding "Chapters" such as Sam & Max seasons), around six more games on other digital services for the PC, 33 on various consoles, and probably around two dozen games on PSN/XBLA, not counting free games from PS+ that I "purchased" but have very little intention of actually downloading and playing.

But then again I haven't actually kept any of the CDs for my pre-steam PC games and around the middle of every console generation I give my old system(s) and games to various friends. Maybe that'll change now that I have downloadable content tied to each of them, but I've my doubts about that. They'll at least be binned and put in the storage space.

Of course I do that "purge" thing with everything. When I moved to my current apartment I dropped all my furniture and bought all-new furniture to fit it, and I routinely toss large parts of my book collection to used book stores ever few years.

I seem to be buying Indie Royales and Humble Bundles just for the music.

I just conflated Neil deGrasse Tyson and Tyrese Gibson and blurted out "Neil Tyrese Tyson."

I pretty much love the Fast & the Furious movies.

They're silly action movies with just enough heart to be compelling and frankly, since Jeremy Lin took over, they're also pretty damn good.

I admit to thinking they were silly when I was younger.

I admit to knowing that they're silly now.

But GD, they are entertaining.

Also, I'd like to own up to not watching Tokyo Drift until tonight.

Why? Because I knew it took place in the future and was generally out of continuity.

=)

I just wish they did more with THE CARS. It's false advertising, it is. I've only had the misfortune to see two of them (fool me twice, won't get fooled again), 2 and 5. I was told only the first ten minutes were worth watching of 2, so it's on me that I watched the whole movie.

But 5 was basically a big muscly homoerotic slap in the face. There's nothing wrong with muscly homoeroticism, but when you have a Challenger about to race a 996 GT3 for pink slips you do not immediately cut to AFTER the race with a nonchalant "So here's the car we won". Then Lin followed that up with an E. Honda hundred-hand-slaps of cars showing up in their sekrit hideout that they won in races apparently not worth showing. I guess that would have taken too much time from the magic vault-dragging.

I'm not saying don't enjoy them for what they are, I just feel like I get sold a false bill of goods each time. Now the Initial D live-action movie, there's a fantastic car film!

oilypenguin wrote:

I pretty much love the Fast & the Furious movies.

There is nothing wrong with this. And just to expand on your Tokyo Drift confession--I skipped it because I knew it took place in the future, but now that the continuity, yes, continuity has caught up, I moved it to a priority position in my DVD queue, and am frustrated that it's still Very Long Wait.

Gravey wrote:

I've only had the misfortune to see two of them (fool me twice, won't get fooled again), 2 and 5.

Chargers using vault as a flail sequence invalidates your entire post. I can only conclude your socialist healthcare has rendered the parts of your attuned to awesome inert and vestigial, and it makes me sad. The constant threat of medically-incurred bankruptcy allows me to live my life a quarter mile at a time.

So, like some others, I actually didn't hate the prequel 3 star wars movies. Had some dumbness in them, but all movies have a lil bit I think.
I really liked the latest indiana jones and didn't see it as an 'alien' movie, but an Indi movie that had that as a plot motivator. (Are ghosts coming out of a box -that- much less absurd?)
I've never seen fight club or goonies, and despite the horror on peoples' faces when I tell them that, I don't really want to. I don't know much about them, but, uh, whatever. I'm not a big movie person in the first place so I have no problem remaining ignorant in that field of life.

And the only D&D I've ever played was the latest edition? 3rd? 4th? Anyhow, apparently it's the 'WoW' of D&D. I had fun with it.

I've never beaten a Final Fantasy game. Not a single one. I've heard good things about it, though. TAKE THAT "TWIST AT THE END"!

Parallax Abstraction wrote:
jdzappa wrote:

So the more I listen to the Starcraft HOTS hoopla, the more I realize that I'm completely over Blizzard. I respect their level of quality and polish, but unless they come out with a new franchise with original gameplay, I just don't care anymore.

What hoopla is this? I'm actually in a similar position with Blizzard that you are but I didn't know there was much hoopla about. What's the issue people have?

The only hoopdee I've seen about it is the seemingly constant "world championships" they have on twitch.tv every... day. I swear I've not watched more of those things then games of SC2 I've played. I'm kinda tired of it. The game is fun and good at showing you how much worse you are then the internet at games, but its been out for years now and the only difference was when HOTS came out and multiplayer got like, 2? 3? new units. And that's fine too, but when you beat us to death with tournaments, you gotta start incorporating DK mode from goldeneye or something. Bleh.

This...

Rahtas wrote:

So, like some others, I actually didn't hate the prequel 3 star wars movies. ...
I really liked the latest indiana jones and didn't see it as an 'alien' movie, but an Indi movie that had that as a plot motivator.

can be explained by this...

Rahtas wrote:

I've never seen fight club or goonies

As for this...

Rahtas wrote:

and despite the horror on peoples' faces when I tell them that, I don't really want to. I don't know much about them, but, uh, whatever. I'm not a big movie person in the first place so I have no problem remaining ignorant in that field of life.

Blue pill person. Some day you will see some good films then will no longer be able to stomach crap.

You're the type who never complains about the taste of McDonald's, at least until you go to Morton's / Ruth's Chris / etc.

Didn't finish Half Life 2. I didn't care about Alyx.

UCRC wrote:

Didn't finish Half Life 2. I didn't care about Alyx.

WHUT? Gravity guns at dawn, good sir.

SpacePPoliceman wrote:
oilypenguin wrote:

I pretty much love the Fast & the Furious movies.

There is nothing wrong with this. And just to expand on your Tokyo Drift confession--I skipped it because I knew it took place in the future, but now that the continuity, yes, continuity has caught up, I moved it to a priority position in my DVD queue, and am frustrated that it's still Very Long Wait.

Gravey wrote:

I've only had the misfortune to see two of them (fool me twice, won't get fooled again), 2 and 5.

Chargers using vault as a flail sequence invalidates your entire post. I can only conclude your socialist healthcare has rendered the parts of your attuned to awesome inert and vestigial, and it makes me sad. The constant threat of medically-incurred bankruptcy allows me to live my life a quarter mile at a time.

Just imagine that Internet High Five picture here. Or Respekt Knuckles. Or any variant thereof.

Keithustus wrote:

This...

Rahtas wrote:

So, like some others, I actually didn't hate the prequel 3 star wars movies. ...
I really liked the latest indiana jones and didn't see it as an 'alien' movie, but an Indi movie that had that as a plot motivator.

can be explained by this...

Rahtas wrote:

I've never seen fight club or goonies

As for this...

Rahtas wrote:

and despite the horror on peoples' faces when I tell them that, I don't really want to. I don't know much about them, but, uh, whatever. I'm not a big movie person in the first place so I have no problem remaining ignorant in that field of life.

Blue pill person. Some day you will see some good films then will no longer be able to stomach crap.

You're the type who never complains about the taste of McDonald's, at least until you go to Morton's / Ruth's Chris / etc.

Fight Club still kicks serious ass. But I can see someone seeing Goonies now and not being overly impressed. Sort of happened the same with me when I first saw Blade Runner a couple of weeks ago. I could understand the significance of the film for its time, but didn't feel the impact.

I dunno, Goonies is one of those films that I had a huuuuuuuuge gap in years from seeing it as a little kid to seeing it as an adult, to the point that I couldn't remember most of it. Similar films such as Karate Kid got a laugh out of me despite still enjoying it in a non-ironic manner, and then films like Labyrinth were boring (The Dark Crystal I have mixed feelings on. It's stupid but I love it). Goonies, on the other hand, I managed to enjoy in a non-ironic way. I feel like Goonies and The Sandlot are two of those films that may be about kids, but aren't "just a kids movie". Partially because the kids themselves are actually developed characters that behave (and cuss) like kids in middle school.

And considering Goonies is an 80's flick, well, now it carries the nostalgia for the time period that The Sandlot was made with in mind.

When I watched Karate Kid, my predominant thought was, "So this is what a battle show is in the US." It was interesting, but the movie format inherently hamstrings it from presenting karate as more than just another vehicle for conflict. Coulda been driving.

Rahtas wrote:

I really liked the latest indiana jones and didn't see it as an 'alien' movie, but an Indi movie that had that as a plot motivator. (Are ghosts coming out of a box -that- much less absurd?)

Confession #1: Long before the movie was announced, I went through "John Carter of Mars." In audiobook form. From Libravox. It was background noise at work, but I dug it.

Confession #2: After enjoying John Carter of Mars and being familiar with other pulp / serial works from the time, Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls felt absolutely at normal as a "pulp" story.

ccesarano wrote:

I dunno, Goonies is one of those films that I had a huuuuuuuuge gap in years from seeing it as a little kid to seeing it as an adult, to the point that I couldn't remember most of it. Similar films such as Karate Kid got a laugh out of me despite still enjoying it in a non-ironic manner, and then films like Labyrinth were boring (The Dark Crystal I have mixed feelings on. It's stupid but I love it). Goonies, on the other hand, I managed to enjoy in a non-ironic way. I feel like Goonies and The Sandlot are two of those films that may be about kids, but aren't "just a kids movie". Partially because the kids themselves are actually developed characters that behave (and cuss) like kids in middle school.

And considering Goonies is an 80's flick, well, now it carries the nostalgia for the time period that The Sandlot was made with in mind. :D

I think this is what makes me like most Pixar Movies and disappointed me so much with Despicable Me. There was no additional layer for grownups to enjoy while the kids laugh at the slapstick humor.

I remember most movies of my childhood as amazing, as one does. Few have survived my latest viewing; Goonies among the top, Tron hitting absolute bottom.

Is it me, or is Tron completely incoherent? The plot and dialogue is so mangled it's actually pretty hard to follow.

I never really watched the entirety of Tron until I was an adult, and it was boring as Hell. My sister said she didn't want to see Tron Legacy because she felt like she needed to see the first (which is funny as she's not like that with a lot of stuff), but I told her no. Legacy is a much more fun movie to watch while the original Tron is just...a snore.

It's really cool visuals for the time period, and it's still amusing to see how accurate some of the computer stuff is, but overall...nah.

Which reminds me, my old man was actually rather giddy when we saw Tron Legacy and the command line prompts and commands were accurate. It's awesome to occasionally see my Dad enjoy something for a change.

Then they had to go and ruin it by calling some random programs that just exist in computers ISOs.

ccesarano wrote:

Then they had to go and ruin it by calling some random programs that just exist in computers ISOs.

Everyone knows they are actually UDF.

Hobbes2099 wrote:

I think this is what makes me like most Pixar Movies and disappointed me so much with Despicable Me. There was no additional layer for grownups to enjoy while the kids laugh at the slapstick humor.

I dunno; I just watched it for the first time, and I enjoyed it a bunch. To be fair, I wasn't necessarily looking for a separate adults-only layer.

Fantastic MR. Fox is a better movie then UP and should have won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2009. UP should however get a special award for best montage ever.

IHateDRM wrote:

UP should however get a special award for best montage ever.

IMAGE(http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1i36uGJrY1r52fkxo1_500.jpg)

PRG013 wrote:
IHateDRM wrote:

UP should however get a special award for best montage ever.

IMAGE(http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1i36uGJrY1r52fkxo1_500.jpg)

IMAGE(http://frankjkenny.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Einstein.jpg)

Let's not forget; Twilight was a merchandising machine; nothing else, nothing more.

Problem is there were no vampires in UP.